Embodiments relate generally to management of confidential information, and, in particular, to methods and apparatus related to transmission of confidential associated with a subject entity to a relying entity.
In societies with electronic-enabled economies, relatively large numbers of transactions take place among parties who have limited knowledge about one another. When parties engage in a transaction, a party (also referred to as a relying party) may hope to acquire specified information (e.g., confidential information, personally identifiable information) about another party (also referred to as a subject party) to facilitate and/or enable the transaction. A relying party may wish to acquire information such as:                (1) Will the bank or credit card account of the subject party cover the purchase of goods and/or services by the subject party?        (2) Is the subject party a reasonable credit risk for a proposed mortgage or new line of credit?        (3) Is there anything in the medical history of the subject entity that may change a diagnosis?Answers to these types of questions can be obtained by the relying party through, for example, electronic records of previous transactions and/or through a third-party information provider such as a credit bureau. In some cases, answers to these questions can be obtained with relative ease by a party with payment of a fee. Often, the information collected by, for example, information providers can be collected without the assent of the subject party and/or can include errors which can have a detrimental impact on the subject party and/or the relying party. Additionally, breaches of information repositories maintained by relying parties and/or information providers can result in information being undesirably exposed.        
Among the unintended consequences of the widespread availability of information, such as personally identifiable information, either through purchase, accidental exposure, and/or theft has led to, for example, the undesirable exploitation of such information for criminal purposes (e.g., identity theft). This type of exploitation can be a financial and/or an emotional burden on the subject of the exposed information. Although certain organizations, such as government agencies, are beginning to enact rules and/or regulations to protect information and/or promote the availability of information so that information can be readily transferred between parties, these efforts have many short-comings. Thus, a need exists for methods and apparatus related to transmission of confidential information associated with a subject party to a relying party.